The Prospect of DADT Repeal Reveals the Terrorized Mindset of the Opposition

As many of you know, when something big happens in the news involving gays (or a number of other subjects), Pam Spaulding loves to hop over to Free Republic to see what sort of hilarious pout-rage and fear their commenters are hunting and pecking onto the internet through their AOL accounts.

Well, as you would imagine, they are feeling frightened, betrayed, outraged and confused by the fact that Admiral Mullen, Defense Secretary Gates, and now even Colin Powell have given full-throated endorsements to repealing the ridiculous policy. Pam collected a bunch of their comments, so you should click over to read them all, but I wanted to highlight one comment that really struck me as particularly funny:

If the ban is lifted homosexuals will flock to the military and overrun it and have the full force of military law behind them, the military will be theirs.

Oh. My. God.

Bear in mind, the commenters at Free Republic think of themselves as the tuffest of the tuff, the patriotest of the gun-totin’est patriots. You know, manly mens! And that’s why this is so funny, because in the space of just over 140 characters, this commenter, whoever he is, has revealed what a terrified scaredy-puss he really is. He’s actually frightened that gay people will take over the military. And do what? God only knows what ludicrous fantasies this poor thing has created in his little head. You see, wingnuts act like they’re the strongest guys on earth, but they’re all false bravado. This person, whoever he is, has concocted a world where gays are the ultimate boogeyman, and has endowed us with superpowers we can’t even imagine. (Really, we can’t, because hey, we’re actually just normal people living our lives.)

But this is the same weak-kneed fear that’s still keeping them up at night over the failed underpants bomber. They’re terrified of everything. “We want our country back!”, they scream. Jon Stewart was right when he said that the country they want back is the country they knew when they were children, whenever that was. These are people who have grown up into weak human beings who reach for their firearms every time they hear the house settle. The only time they can remember not being afraid is when they were children, when they had strong adult figures to shelter them from fear. They want that back. This also explains why they react so positively to empty bravado in presidents, movie characters (they worship Gladiator), and talk radio hosts. In their minds, George W. Bush, Russell Crowe, and Rush Limbaugh are protecting them. (And when they need the good old-fashioned commiseration of a shared night terror, there’s always Glenn Beck. He cries with them!) It’s also, conversely, why they feel threatened by liberals, because they see in us a silent self-confidence that doesn’t feel the need to prove itself. No, we’re really not broken up about the dumb underpants bomber. We want him prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and we want the government to do its job in fixing the holes that allowed him to slip through, but that’s about the extent of it. We’re just not losing sleep over it.

The real reason they’re threatened by gays and lesbians openly serving in the military isn’t their juvenile, prurient obsession with what goes on in military showers. That’s a factor, but it’s not primary, because most of these people have never served and will never serve in the military. No, the real reason is that if gays and lesbians are able to serve openly and honestly, then they, the Free Republic sort of wingnuts, will have to endure the reality of the fact that there are faggots out there who are stronger, faster, and braver than they ever will be. These types fetishize the military beyond belief. The first question they ask when they meet someone who’s recently come home from war is “Did you kill anybody?” Trust me, that is the last question returning troops want to answer. So for these types of people, the mere possibility that the man (and yes, it’s about their fear of gay men) who captured the terrorist they fear the most is a…faggot?…is simply a bridge too far. As long as DADT remains in effect, these Freepers can remain in blissful denial, in a magical land where all gay men are girly and weak, where they never have to consider the possibility that there are gay men and women actively protecting the freedoms they cherish the most.

The picture above is of a billboard put up by the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center a few months back. It’s a simple, nonthreatening message, an acknowledgement of reality. A valiant uniformed Marine. The fact that he’s gay is just one piece of his reality. The billboard was, of course, vandalized within days.

And it’s not so easy to gay bash someone who’s been trained to use a machine gun.

John F.February 4, 2010 at 11:17 am -

We know they only want to paint us as weak, snivveling, sneaky evil creatures. The fact that gays & lesbians are capable of the strength, honor, patriotism, courage and putting others before self denoted by military service is just not part of their narrative. Trying to perpetuate DADT is just one way of them desparately trying to control the public image of us. But if we keep speaking out, the public gets to see us, and the image of us they try to paint will be completely revealed as the insidious fiction that it is.

KayFebruary 4, 2010 at 11:36 am -

Great points there – very well-written post. Thanks for the dose of perspective.

DomFebruary 4, 2010 at 1:17 pm -

Great article and comments! The more we reveal our obvious strengths, courage and honesty, the more their utter mendacity is revealed. They’re really frightened, especially since Boies and Olson demolished their crybaby testimonies from people who were not at all experts. They’re really scared, too, that Powell et al have called for repeal of DADT. No longer can a bigot hide his thought processes when speaking publicly. (Did you hear that Senator McCain and company?) They can’t hide behind anonymous donations, signature drives to deprive others of their rights, their crucifixes and papal dresses. Behind all the trappings is a scared little human being who is more troubled than we can imagine. The world has changed and, like all changes, has removed them from the driver’s seat. If you don’t believe me ask the adolescents and 20 somethings who couldn’t give a rat’s a*s for all the fuss and fear. Love from Dom, R.N.

FrijondiFebruary 6, 2010 at 3:38 pm -

Evan, I agree completely that the prospect of having to acknowledge gay war heros freaks the right wing out. But this is not entirely about men. Women make up 61% of all servicemembers expelled under DADT, despite the fact that only 15% of the armed forces are women.

Straight women also have a stake in this — DADT is a very effective way of keeping them in line. When it’s finally repealed, a whole lot of military guys are going to have to swallow hard and deal with the possibility of a woman being promoted ahead of them, because they won’t be able to get rid of female competitors by starting rumors that they’re lesbians.

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